A 'Bike Corral' Comes to Franklin Ave.

On-street bike racks have arrived in Crown Heights.

Called "bike corrals," they replace one parking place with eight bike spaces in front of Little Zelda on Franklin Avenue between Park and Sterling. 

The racks arrived late last week, about two months after Little Zelda owner Michael De Zayas put in an application for one at the suggestion of a DOT staffer who noticed the coffee shop's lush plantings. As part of the deal, De Zayas agrees to put plantings in corral's large flower pots and remove litter and snow from the area.  

This corall is only the eighth in New York City, and the third in Brooklyn. New York City's first corral arrived at Smith and Sackett streets in August of 2011 and Fifth Avenue got one in front of Gorilla Coffee in April of 2012. 

Several Crown Heights residents said they were psyched to have one come to their neighborhood. 

"It looks great, it’s convenient for people, and it’s building the Brooklyn bike community," said Deena Atkinson, a freelance writer.

"I think it’s a positive development for not only the neighborhood but for the whole city, to encourage alternatives to transportation that’s not a car or even a bus, which uses gas," siad Haesun Kim, who works in development for the Audubon Society. 

The corrals, which also contain two large planters will also help beautify the street.

Through the winter they will hold evergreens and other winter-hardy plants, but in the spring, de Zayas said he's going to go all out.

Local artist Mike Perry has agreed to decorate the planters themselves, and de Zayas is planning "an overabundance" of plantings as the weather gets warmer.

"By spring it should be jaw-dropping," he said.